谦卑自牧，勿成骄人
[118] [With] Humility Self-Cultivating, [Do] Not Become Arrogant Persons
汝年二十一，能诗能文，乃宿有善根者。然须谦卑自牧，勿以聪明骄人。
[At] your age [of] twenty-one, able [to compose] poetry [and] able [to write] prose, [you are] thus [of] those [in] past [lives] having good roots. However, [there] must [be with] humility self-cultivating, not with intelligence [as an] arrogant person.
[Note 1: Our skills easily picked up in this life could be due to already being familiar with them in our past lives. However, if they are truly adequate in terms of leading to liberation, we would not still be trapped in the cycle of birth and death. Thus, we should be humble, to continue mastering the skills needed.]
[Note 2: Once there is arrogance, since assuming learning is already adequate, further learning for practice will end, thus ending the path to liberation. Also to note, is that those completely liberated (i.e. Buddhas), since having realised non-self (无我), will not have any arrogance (which arises from self-attachment) (我执) at all. Worldly intelligence and knowledgeability should not be mistaken as spiritual wisdom for liberation too.]
愈学问广博，愈觉不足。则后来成就，难可测量。
[With] more and more learning [that is] extensive, [the] more and more [will there be] feeling [that this is] not enough. Then [will] later accomplishments, [be] difficult [to] measure.
[Note 3: The more learning there is, that is not only broad, but also deep, especially in the key teachings needed for liberation (i.e. the Dharma Door Of Mindfulness Of Buddha: 念佛法门), the more will we realise that they are very profound, with even more to learn. This is so as we are not Buddhas yet, who are the only ones who understand mindfulness of Buddha completely.]
[Note 4: More importantly, there will be realisation that merely having much learning is inadequate, as there must be aligned practice for actualising it too, for liberation of oneself and others to be possible. Thus learning for practising, there will be immeasurable accomplishments in this life, in Pure Land and beyond.]
净土宗十三祖印光大师
Pure Land Tradition’s 13th Patriarch Great Master Yìnguāng
《印光法师文钞》（续编）：复游有维书；
Dharma Master Yìnguāng’s Collected Writings (Second Compilation): Reply Letter [To] Yóu Yǒuwéi;
印光大师文钞菁华录（第一百十八则）：三、示修持方法：丙、明对治习气（第二十五则）
Record [Of] Great Master Yìnguāng’s Collected Writings’ Essence (118th Short Section): 3rd [Chapter]: Guidance [On] Practice Methods: Third, Clear Remedies [For] Habitual Tendencies (25th Short Section)
[Ref: #118 / 3.3.25]
Namo Amituofo : Translation and notes by Shen Shi’an
相关典籍
Related Text:
《印光大师文钞菁华录》
Record Of Great Master Yìnguāng’s Collected Writings’ Essence
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